Wildlife & nature — what you do

Looking for the Saimaa seal

Fewer than four hundred exist. A quiet boat, an early morning, and no promises — which is how it should be sold.

Savonlinna, Finland · moderate

Whales from an old oak boat

The refitted fishing schooners cut their engines and drift; the silence is half of what you came for.

Húsavík, Iceland · moderate

Stromboli, from the water

The volcano has erupted more or less continuously for two thousand years. Boats hold position off the Sciara del Fuoco after dark.

Lipari & the Aeolians, Italy · moderate

Saltstraumen at full flow

Check the tide table and stand on the bridge: whirlpools ten metres across, and fishermen working the edge of them.

Bodø, Norway · low

Out of town, legally

Any trip beyond the settlement needs a guide carrying a rifle and trained to avoid using it. That is the law and it is also the honest reading of the risk.

Longyearbyen, Norway · high

An aurora night with a forecast, not a promise

A guide who drives to clear sky — sometimes into Finland — is worth more than one who stays put; nobody can guarantee the lights, and anyone who does is selling something.

Tromsø, Norway · high

A Sámi reindeer herding afternoon

Book with a Sámi-owned operator; the difference between a working herd and a photo backdrop is obvious within ten minutes.

Tromsø, Norway · moderate

Bison at first light

A guide, a hide and a 4 am start; the forest's edge meadows are where the herds actually come out.

Białowieża, Poland · moderate

A bear hide in the Carpathians

Licensed hides run by biologists at dusk; Romania holds most of Europe's brown bears and this is the ethical way to see one.

Brașov, Romania · moderate

Into the delta by small boat

The big tour boats stay in the main channels; a local with a small engine gets you into the reed corridors where the birds are.

Tulcea & the Danube Delta, Romania · moderate